Caviar Appetizer Recipes

I came up with this elegant starter for a dinner party we hosted. I knew I was going to have to spend a lot of time on the main course, so I opted for a dish that was quick and easy to assemble. It's made of four flavorful layers: crème fraîche flavored with beet green pesto, pumpkin seed-crusted Russian rye bread, grilled beet carpaccio and a luxurious caviar topping.

I always make extra pesto that I store for later use. If you're storing frozen pesto cubes as I've suggested in the past, this is a recipe that you can whip up very easily. I also used freshly picked beets from our garden, grilled them on the barbecue and thinly sliced them with a mandoline. If you're looking for a vegetarian alternative to caviar, you could always replace it with roasted red bell pepper red pesto-flavored quinoa caviar. Either way, this first course is as appealing to the eye as it is to the stomach.